Nice 1

Nice Blog 1

Nice is nice—very, very nice!!!!

Our room has a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, the beach, and the whole shoreline of Nice.  The location is perfect—less than a 5 minute walk to the Old Town, where all the action is.

But first….our journey.  It took us 5 minutes to check in at SFO, 2-3 minutes to get to the head of the line at security—except for some reason my carry-on was suspicious.  Once again I was given a very thorough physical search—this is getting to be a habit—and my carry-on was emptied.   Of course, they found nothing!

The Business class lounge for British Air was the best ever!!!

It was spacious with comfortable seating and tons of food—fresh sandwiches, soups, salads, desserts, all the booze an alcoholic could possibly want. We boarded the plane directly from the lounge!   The configuration of the seats was very strange but turned out to be comfortable.  I was in an aisle facing forward.  Opposite me was an Indian gentleman in a suit no less facing backward looking almost right at me. Fortunately there was a partition that went up and down, but every time the flight attended needed to hand him food or a drink, the partition came down. While I normally don’t drink when I fly, I had to have the Kir Royale they offered in memory of my friend Loren, who introduced them to me.   Dinner was delicious.  As soon as I finished, I took my Ambien, put on my eyeshades, snuggled into my very comfortable pod, and voilà I was in London. Heathrow is a strange airport because you have to go through security again once you arrive.   The London lounge was as wonderful as the one in SF, but since I just had  breakfast on the plane, I didn’t partake of their very appetizing looking food. However, on the plane we were served a British tea with small sandwiches, scones, and clotted cream. Dan and I were in different rows.  In my row next to the window  (no one in the middle) was a fascinating man whose family owns department stores throughout the Middle East.  He personally owns 8 homes!  Of Indian descent, his grandfather moved to Kuwait over 100 years ago.  Although he was born there, his main home is in Dubai.  He gave me his card and encouraged me to contact him the next time I get to Dubai.  Yeah, right!  As Dan and I were going through customs, we had just handed over our passports, when all hell broke loose.  We heard tables and chairs topple over, people shouting.  ALL the customs agents ran to the room including ours who had our passports in hand. We could not see what was happening but my Dubai friend had already gone through and told us they were interrogating two men when they tried to escape!   We waited and waited for our passports.   Finally our agent came out and went to a different kiosk taking our passports with him.  I thought I might be a “woman without a country,” when he finally figured out who we were. 

We took the bus from the airport to its last stop, which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  Old town is a typical European area with outdoor cafes and shops.  We ate at a restaurant recommended both by Rick Steves and our hotel clerk.  It was great atmosphere but overpriced and overrated.  The next morning we had breakfast at a different restaurant in old town.   For about $15 we got oj, eggs, ham, Swiss cheese, fresh fruit, toast, croissants or crepes and coffee.  Considering the prices in Nice, it was a bargain.  After breakfast we walked to the main square, Messina, which is quite large with a tacky statue and fountain in the middle.  We went back at night and it was less tacky.  On six very tall poles are life size figures of men out of glass like material.  At night each one is lighted from within in various colors.  We caught the bus, which went through beautiful residential districts to the Matisse Museum.  With the exception of the Chagall Museum, all museums in Nice are free!  It’s quite a small museum, and the best part was watching a group of 11 year -old school children learning to make cut-out art a la Matisse.  Although the forecast had called for sunny and clear, it started to rain with thunder and lightening.  We were totally unprepared.  When we got off the bus, we ducked into a café for une café. After we visited a beautiful, old mansion exhibiting clothes and artificats belonging to Josephine and Napoleon, we had to bight the bullet and do something we almost never do—take a taxi back to our hotel.  Taxis in Nice are overpriced.  We asked him, “How much to the Swisse Hotel?:  He repliced, “20 euros.”  We said, “too much”.  He dropped the price to 15 which was still too much for a 10 minute ride but we really had no choice.  After drying out resting, we went to an Italian restaurant in old town—where else.  We shared an amazing antipasto for 15 euros—in Venice we paid about 70-90 euros—and a lasagna that could have fed the entire population of Nice.

The next morning was sunny and clear.  We got up early, took a tram to the train station and a train to the Maritine Alps.  What a gorgeous ride.  Our final destination was Tende, a picturesque small town.  We wandered very narrow street  under arches past medieval buildings in the beautiful orange rust color so popular in France.  People currently live in them, and I was tempted to knock on doors to invite myself in, but Dan wouldn’t let me.  Of course, at the top was the inevitable small church.  Speaking of which…..when we got back to Nice, we walked to “the” Russian Orthodox Church, considered one of the most beautiful outside of Russia.  Many aristocratic Russians vacationed in France prior to the revolution.  I thought it was magnificent inside and out and unlike any of the churches I saw in St. Petersburg.  A young woman monitored visitors.  Fortunately Dan had on long pants.  She turned away other men who were wearing shorts.  Men also had to remove their hats, but women could keep theirs on.  Dan and I were sitting down admiring the icons when the young woman came over to admonish him.  At first, we thought it was because he was holding his camera and pictures aren’t allowed.  It was because he had his legs crossed!!!    We’ve been in many houses of worship of all types of religions, but this one was a new one for us.  Anybody out there know why????

As part of our holy pilgrimage that day, our last stop was the main synagogue in Nice.  I had tried to set up an appointment to visit it prior to the trip but hadn’t been successful.  I rang the bell and the shamus (caretaker) answered.  I told him we were Jewish and could we visit.  I was surprised to find out that it was no problem.  Often because of very tight security, visits have to be made in advance or we have to have our passports, or we’re just turned away.  Mordecai, a native of Morroco,  was a very gracious host and took us on a tour of the Sephardic shul, where 200 people attend Shabbat services—there are about 20,000 Jews in Nice. I love reading prayer books in languages other than English to see the similarities (many) and differences (just a few).

That night—guess where we had dinner.  You win a prize if you guess old town.  Called Basta Pasta (there are many, many Italians in Nice), we had an outstanding and relatively inexpensive dinner.  I had a huge caprese salad and the best smoked salmon pasta ever.  I was only going to eat ½, but it was all gone by the time I finished.  Since I had the prix fixe menu, dessert was included—a delicious crème brulee.  Seated next to us was a man about 50 and a woman in her 60’s obviously not a couple.  Originally from the U.S, he has lived in Vienna for 20 years.  The woman was from London.  We were surprised to find out that they were both lawyers from IBM.  We had a delightful conversation and really enjoyed talking to them because we had identical political views.